![]() ![]() since photography “ remained relatively overlooked in art historical and critical terms” until the 1980’s. However, she is quite open about her post-modernist stance which she says has always been part of criticism of photography in the U.K. ![]() Post-modernism only came to exist because of modernism and in her essay, Liz Wells does put forward the modernist view in quoting Bill Jay’s Occam’s Razor. There are no bulletin points or a “how to” presentation rather she describes what the reviewer needs to take into account such as the interests of gallery owner as well as photographer and what good work might consist of. However, her article does not explore this “ dissonance between words and pictures” rather it dwells on understanding the context required to review photography. Liz Wells does consider the collusion of words and pictures from the very beginning by quoting the well known photographer Edward Weston who considers the attempt to translate pictures into words as folly she herself finds it “ one of the most difficult tasks in writing about photography“. The title of this essay, “Words and Pictures” is not as accurate a description of the article as it’s subtitle, “On Reviewing Photography”. #LIZ WELLS PHOTO READER FREE#Considering the fluidity of digital media and “ the dismantling of legacies of hierarchical attitudes“, the reviewer can be relatively free to say what they want. There is a need to actually engage with the work and not take a website of an exhibition as a substitute. According to Wells, criticism therefore entails “ taste, judgement and a degree of independence of opinion” which comes from knowing the value of the work while simultaneously, the reviewer needs to be aware of the complexity of the cultural environment in which they operate. Criticism is seldom neutral and this needs to be admitted by the reviewer who thanks to the widespread availability of media is no longer a connoisseur. The reviewer needs to not only respond to the artist but also to the gallery while the review also becomes a form of publicity and as Abigail Solomon-Godeau points out, “ a kind of intermediary between the frenzied pluralism of the marketplace and the sacralised judgement seat that is the museum.” There are more modernist approaches to criticism such as those suggested by Bill Jay in Occams’ Razor in which he considers the photographer, the appreciation of the work, its place in photography’s history, its context in the artist’s culture as well as light upon the creative/artistic approach all of which is actually a lot vaguer than it sounds and likely to result in an elitist view that panders to established assumptions and hierarchies. A reviewer needs to be aware of the kinds of criticism practiced such as those of the MOMA which has done much to promote photography as art. #LIZ WELLS PHOTO READER ARCHIVE#Nevertheless, the reviewer has a responsible role to play as their account can become part of the archive of the work in question. ![]() Her argument starts by outlining the difficulties involved in describing pictures by words and quotes the twentieth century photographer, Edward Weston, who wrote that “ it seems a folly to try to convey its (art ) meaning afresh by means of words.” Apart from this obvious obstacle of the theoretical approach to photography, it is often difficult for the reviewer to obtain images for use in reviews and even when they are available, they are not going to be of similar quality to the original. Liz Wells has written an essay about “reviewing photography” which will be considered in this blog the original occurs in the book The Photography Reader of which she is the editor. ![]()
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